If you do not have the use of a car, and would like to be able to buy heavier items at the Trading Store, then contact the website and I'll try to match you up with someone from your site who can help out.
Dates for the Trading Store this month are 13th and 27th June.
If you do not have the use of a car, and would like to be able to buy heavier items at the Trading Store, then contact the website and I'll try to match you up with someone from your site who can help out.
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It was very reasssuring to hear Julie Rogers say at the June 3rd meeting that the review does not contemplate any large rise in rents.
It has been suggested that plotholders were silly to fear a 400% increase in rents. Unfortunately that is just about what happened at Eaton Lands allotments in nearby Hythe, where in 2012 the following was the state of play, as seen amongst the comments on blog 'Allotment Garden': "Christopher Attwood @ 10:37 am Allotment holder Eaton Lands Allotment Hythe Kent We have just been sent our annual fee for our allotment. Last year we paid £42.00 for an 8.55 perch allotment area. The fee this year has risen to £85.00, over 100%. Four years ago we were paying £22.00 and in 2010 it rose to £42.00. Almost another 100% The whole thing has become a joke and the local council are exploiting the situation with impunity. What was once an enjoyable and affordable occupation is now turning into a worrisome expense." A rise from £22 per plot to £85 per plot over four years is by any standards a serious hike in rents, even though the Eaton Lands rents were lower to start with. It is examples like this, which many allotmenteers know about from their personal contacts, which made the survey so worrying. Canterbury City Coucncil also doubled rents then doubled them again between 2010 and 2012. (article in Kent and Sussex Courier) It is a great relief to hear that the council has no intention of recommending a similar rise, and is apparently looking at net rents paid across the county rather then percentage price rises elsewhere. High rents have been quoted by some allotmenteers in other areas, but these gardeners usually enjoy facilities like toilets, free manure supply - sand too in at least one instance, a communal building - and even the free use of tools. It's important to compare like with like - other sites are very cheap but have no water supply. The following notes on the meeting are kindly supplied by a plotholder from Westrees who was present.
"- The Council agreed they could see how the wording of the survey was a cause for alarm and admitted that maybe it could have been handled/written better. "- The issue of distribution was perhaps not truly addressed, however the council recorded a response rate equivalent to 54% of plots which was higher than I think many had feared, although I couldn't say whether the demographics of this 54% was representative given that it would likely tend towards email and social media users. "- Julie Rogers from ABC allayed fears of a significant price hike, and indicated that it would be unusual for the cabinet to press ahead with a rise above the county average. Likely £1-2 increase per perch(?). "- Re: concessions and water - I don't think any firm answers were given on this, but many interesting ideas were put forward "- Insight into how other allotment sites are run nationwide and in Medway was provided by Steve Clements from the NSALG and Andy Southern of William Road. Some interesting insights, in my opinion, on how Medway handled new tenants, those who couldn't handle a whole plot, water management and fees. "- The council proposed and the committee seemed to agree that a steering group should be created in fairly short notice to guide Julie in creating her proposals to go to the ABC cabinet. Although there is no fixed timeframe for this, everyone round the table seemed to want to move pretty fast. "-I don't think it was discussed when or how this group would be formed and of whom - only that they would try to include someone from the national association and the gentleman with the experience in Medway to provide insight." The timeframe mentioned by Julie Rogers was to have the considerations of the working group complete in time for them to be put to the membership at large at the Open Meeting scheduled for later in July. Unfortunately the publicity manager was not able, as requested, to raise the concern about the distribution and contents of the survey which has been the focus of so much disquiet, as no discussion of this was permitted and an attempt to raise the subject suppressed. The full minutes of the meeting will be posted on the wesbite as soon as they are recieved. One of our members has received the following breakdown of costs from Jonathan Longley. Use the window controls to scroll down and see the full document. You will notice that the figures give the actual figures for the past year, and the projected figures for next year. The largest figure is 'Contracts management' - this is for the staff time at the department which administers the allotments. Please note that the figures appear misleading. The projected budget for 2014-15 was the same as the figures given below as projected for 2015-16. The difference between the two figures is not, as it looks like, a projected rise. On the contrary, it represents a saving in the actual figure spent over the amount budgeted. You may like to look at these examples of what has happened elsewhere when councils have tried to raise rents. It has been suggested that plotholders were silly to fear a 400% increase in rents. In fact that is just about what happened at Hythe Eaton Lands alloments, where in 2012 the folowing was the state of play, as seen amongst the comments on blog 'Allotment Garden': "Christopher Attwood @ 10:37 am Allotment holder Eaton Lands Allotment Hythe Kent We have just been sent our annual fee for our allotment. Last year we paid £42.00 for an 8.55 perch allotment area. The fee this year has risen to £85.00, over 100%. Four years ago we were paying £22.00 and in 2010 it rose to £42.00. Almost another 100% The whole thing has become a joke and the local council are exploiting the situation with impunity. What was once an enjoyable and affordable occupation is now turning into a worrisome expense. In particular the case of Leeds tenants who took their council to the High Court and won a judicial review saying that the proposed increases in rent were illegal. Click here to go to the nsalg website with their report and here to go to a report on a website titled, appropriately, 'Local Government Lawyer' Here is Leeds Council's own report (boring but important) and an August 2014 report by the solicitors involved In Eastleigh, a judge ruled that rent increases considerably less than those proposed by their council were illegal, and the council was faced with the rpospect of refunding plotholders. The proposed rise was only from £5 to £8 per rod, as opposed to the suggested increse to £21.32 on the survey. Click here for the 2012 newspaper report and here for a BBC news report on the court case. However, that case rumbled on and the coucil appealed . . . I'm still looking for the final outcome. Here is a report from Bolton about a similar case - agian the proposed increase was nothing like what Ashford Borough Council has suggested. Bolton plotholders were pretty annoyed, here is what they had to say. Hyndburn in Lancashire were faced with a steep rise - still much less that Ashford suggests - here is what happened in the Lancashire Telegraph in 2012 and here (interesting reading) is Hyndburn Council's own review. Note that they also sent their survey to everyone on the waiting list. In nearby Rother District Council a similar question has been raised - you will note that even with the proposed increase the council was still subsidising the allotments at an average of £90 a plot. Preston council proposed a rise of 33% last year to howls of pain; other councils are also threatening big rises, although none as high as ABC's suggested 425%. Blackpool Federation of Allotment Associations suggests it is a ploy to make people give up or split their plots. This amateur newsletter makes sobering reading. Here is a document from Christchurch and East Dorset telling councillors how NOT to word their discussion of price increases. It makes interesting reading, although clearly our local chaps didn't see it before they wrote the survey. Here is a nice article on a website titled 'Don't Lose The Plot' which sets out the arguments clearly. The current legal position may have changed since some of these reports were written. We will of course be looking into what the state of affairs is right now. Message from the Chair of Ashford Allotment Society The Council's survey concerning a review of allotments has rightly generated much discussion and debate. The purpose of the review was to ascertain the thoughts of tenants regarding the costs of providing allotments. Currently taken from minutes of our meetings these are £51 000 annually with a revenue of £6500. The survey was asking questions about suggested possible changes and not asking for opinions on specific increases to charges for rent which were and are neither envisaged nor proposed. The survey was designed to find out whether income could be increased and looking at alternative ways of delivering the allotment service. The survey included questions about possible increased charges, whether a service charge for water use could be paid and if a deposit scheme should be introduced with rental paid in advance as well as ascertaining views about whether ,as currently is the case, that some tenants should not be able rent an allotment free of charge. The latter two issues have been discussed over recent years in our committee meetings and recommended as a way of ensuring genuine commitment from new tenants. To suggest that the rent will be increasing by 400% is simply not what is being proposed. It is unfortunate that a few tenants have discussed this in the local press as fact and it is both premature and scaremongering as these views and concerns may not represent those of the majority of plot holders. The Council will be presenting the outcomes of the survey on Wednesday 3 June to committee members. This is not an open meeting for all tenants. There will be an extraordinary meeting currently scheduled for July ( no date confirmed ) to give everyone a chance to present individual views and join in discussion. Any plot holders should realise that if they wish to attend the meeting on 3rd June the room allocated may not allow more than up to four additional tenants per site and the constitution states that individuals do not have the right to speak apart from via their rep. To turn away people from this meeting could lead to frustration and disappointment . I intend to propose to the members that 1 or 2 nominated persons per site may be able to speak as an individual tenant particularly from Beaver and Wye who have no elected rep. I hope this will alleviate some of the concerns currently circulating and provide an opportunity for discussion and debate on the Councils's survey to provide a proportionate response, so that all who wish to continue enjoying the benefits of maintaining an allotment can do so. The minutes from the meeting will be available on the website via the minutes secretary . Yours Penny Winston Chair of the Ashford Allotment Society . |
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